Posted on 07/15/2008 2:30:04 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
“Great” Britain ? Not for much longer.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Jack Straw, I kid you not
Why? Because the British people are being encouraged to defend themselves AND to intervene strongly against crimes under commission?
Admit it, you didn't read the article. This is great news.
Ah... my beloved Britain... sounds like my home away from home is finally waking up. This is good news.
You have been robbed 3 times but cannot set yourself up to catch them the 4th time.
Yeah you can
Get a really loud alarm. Have a baseball bat handy.
Sounds legal to me.
Talk about an all purpose phrase. “Have a go” is used to describe any activity one might consider engaging in. “Have a go heroes” who decide to take on a criminal.
Maybe the Brits are beginning to stir awake from some of their loony and self-destructive, upside-down policies instituted in past few decades.
Was the alarm installed after the 3rd incident, if so you were laying in wait for the perp.
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, thats it.
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.
The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that wed be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the muggers potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiatit has no validity when most of a muggers potential marks are armed.
People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and thats the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
Then theres the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.
People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones dont constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.
The gun is the only weapon thats as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldnt work as well as a force equalizer if it wasnt both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I dont do so because I am looking for a fight, but because Im looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I dont carry it because Im afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesnt limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation...and thats why carrying a gun is a civilized act.
So the greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.
You’re right. I have a bad habit of skimming. Thanks.
What are they going to shoot them with...
I hear that you can still get crossbows in England with relatively little hassle. That's what I'd have for home defense if I lived there. Only one shot, but they'll need Jesus on the scene to have any chance of survival.
A step toward sanity.
With what? Are they going to de-criminalize firearms possession?
For the first time in decades, at least.
Shotguns and hunting rifles are not, and never have been, illegal in the UK. (though getting a licence for one in an urban area wouldn’t be easy).
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